It is a major accomplishment for a child to reach the stage of sitting on an adult toilet during potty training. Obtaining control over the direction of urine flow, however, may take some time for a child to master, particularly a male child. When sitting on the toilet, a child's urine stream is not always directed into the toilet. There are occasions where the child's urine stream finds its way out of the toilet through the opening formed between the toilet seat and the toilet bowl. This results in the urine stream coming in contact with the child's pants or other clothing and the floor. This can be very upsetting for a child who is trying to do their best to stay dry and master going to the toilet, as well as the parent who has to continually clean up the mess.
Urine deflecting devices are not new to the art. Many of the known devices, however, are designed for adult males to prevent urine from splashing onto the seat during urination from a standing position. Few potty training devices address preventing the urine stream from passing through the opening between the toilet seat and toilet bowl.
Truettner (U.S. Pat. No. 6,289,527) discloses a molded plastic device that attaches to the underside of the toilet seat to prevent a child's urine stream from passing through the opening formed between the toilet bowl and the toilet seat. When attached to the underside of the toilet seat, the prior art device is not visible when the toilet seat is down, unless viewed from a position to the rear of the attachment point.
However, this prior art device is bulky, which results in increased manufacturing and sales costs. The device is also difficult to clean and frequent replacement increases expense for the consumer. Another drawback is that the prior art device has a fixed configuration. Given the variety of toilet seat shapes, the fixed configuration of the prior art device limits its compatibility with many toilet seats. Therefore, in order to accommodate the full range of toilet seat shapes, the prior art device would have to be manufactured in a variety of configurations, adding additional expense to manufacturing costs and to the consumer.
What is needed is an inexpensive device that is effective for blocking the opening formed between the toilet seat and the toilet bowl, that requires minimal manufacturing cost, and is easy to clean and replace without significant expense to the consumer. Additionally, there is a need for a single device that is flexible enough to match the curvature of any toilet seat and still remain hidden when the toilet seat is down, unless viewed from a position to the rear of the attachment point.